DESCRIPTION OF LEARNING EXPERIENCE
OUTLINE

Title of Learning Experience: Historical Fashions - Interdisciplinary Experience, Art & Social Studies BY GAIL ENGELBRECHT

LEARNING CONTEXT (Under the standards for the History of New York State and the U.S.):

• The study of history requires an analysis of the development of American culture, Its diversity and multicultural context, and the ways people are unified by many values, practices, and traditions across time and from a variety of perspectives
• Students should be able to distinguish between events of past, present, and future
• Specific performance indicators are: students will know the roots of American culture, its development from many traditions and understand life in Colonial America
• Students will need prior knowledge of colonial life in America
• Students will be able to research information on historical fashions and design their own historical fashions

PROCEDURE (For 7^th grade level, social studies)

• The teacher will ask the class the essential question, "How was clothing of the past different from clothing of today?" The teacher will display large, colorful, examples of historical fashions for men, women, and children. Students will be asked if they ever played with paper dolls when they were young. Mention that a great many people earn their living in the fashion/clothing industry. Famous designers are men and women. Tell them that they are going to be fashion designers!
• SOCIAL STUDIES Students will research information on historical clothing using textbooks, library resources, and the Internet (good site to use: Smithsonian Institution http:/www.si.edu/"Historical Clothing" - Post Patterns, 1800-1920, 1920, and "Historical Fashions" - Theme Wedding Attire, 11^th - 20^th C.)
• Students will print copies of fashions they'd like to use as models on the copier.
• Students will gather information on clothing construction, fabrics, colors, and cost using their texts, library resources and the Internet.
• ART Students will design an outfit based on their social studies research of historical clothing.
• Students will trace a life-size pattern of themselves on large roll paper with the help of another student.
• Students will draw their designed clothing on the paper model. They may add historically correct accessories.
• When students clothing has been satisfactorily drawn (teacher evaluation), clothing will be painted on models.
• Students will use the computer's digital camera to take pictures of their finished work.
• Students will display their finished product of a life-size doll wearing their clothing in the Middle-High School cafeteria.
• SOCIAL STUDIES Students will write about the era in history that their fashions were from, what kind of fabrics they would have been made from, how they were made, their colors, and their cost. The writing will be typed on the computer with appropriate graphics.
• The students will post their written material with their fashion display in the cafeteria. A second copy of the writing will be attached to the digital photos to be kept in the student's portfolio.
• Closure - SOCIAL STUDIES and ART Students will fill in a chart to compare their historical clothing to modern clothing using the categories: fabric, color, cost, and construction methods. Students will be able to answer the question asked at the beginning of the experience: "How was clothing of the past different from clothing of today?". Discussion of the essential question can be done in round-table fashion in social studies. Information provided in the final discussion should be written on easel paper (or posters) so that a copy can be made for each student on what was learned in this experience. A copy should be provided to the art teacher, as well.
• Students will be shown the rubrics that will be used for their assessment so they will be aware of what criteria are used.
• Purpose - The New York State Test for Social Studies given in 8^th grade requires good writing skills on social studies subjects. This experience is a good practice for that task. Students learn about the development of American Culture (a N.Y.S. standard) from this exercise. Comparing historical clothing to today's clothing brings in factors of technology - how were clothes produced, economy - what did clothes cost, how was their cost effected by our trade relationships at the time, what kind of incomes did people have, socialization - roles of men and women, how was clothing for the two sexes different, geography - how was clothing affected by where people lived and why.

INSTRUCTIONAL/ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATIONS

• The class will have to be able to use library resources and the computer lab, times will have to be arranged with the people in charge of those locations.

MATERIALS & SUPPLIES

• Paper, pens, pencils, library resources, large roll paper, paints, digital camera, computers, the Internet (same for teacher)

ASSESSMENT TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

• Student progress will be monitored by teachers guiding students through the process of this experience. Teachers will grade the finished product of fashions and written work. Progress toward the standards involved in this experience can be evaluated by teachers from the comparison chart students make, student's written work, and their discussion of the essential question, "How was clothing of the past different from clothing of today?"
• ***Items that are assessed for social studies are the comparison chart and the paragraph.
• The comparison chart students fill out should list the heading "Historical" for the left column and "Today" for the right. The categories down the left-hand side should read: fabir, color, cost, and method of construction. Under the chart, the following sentence should appear: How was clothing of the past different from clothing of today?
• The rubric for the chart would have the following criteria: Awesome - chart supplies a wealth of information, it is clearly written, neatly done, and spelled correctly, Acceptable - chart gives adequate information, is basically clearly written, mostly neat, and spelling is usually correct, Almost There - chart has some information, it is not clearly written, words are not spelled correctly, Awful - chart does not have enough information, it is not clearly written, words are not spelled correctly, *****(the terms for the rubric were student generated)
• The rubric for the paragraph would have the following criteria: Awesome - paragraphs are highly developed, information is clearly and correctly written, there are no misspelled words, Acceptable - paragraphs are well developed, most information is clearly and correctly written, most words are correctly spelled, Almost There - paragraphs are developed, not all information is clearly and correctly written, there are misspelled words, Awful - paragraphs are not developed, information is not clear or correct, words are misspelled, ***(items that are assessed for art are the student's initial design and the finished, life-size paper model.
• The rubric for the initial design would have the following criteria: Awesome - initial copied design is clothing from the past, several similar designs are shown for best choice, several research sources were used, Acceptable - initial copied design is clothing from the past, more that one design from more than one research source was used, Almost There - initial copied design is clothing from the past; one design from one research source was used, Awful - copy may not be historical clothing
• The rubric for the finished, life-size paper model would have the following criteria: Awesome - model is a life-size tracing of the student's body, designs have been attractively drawn according to the initial copy submitted (or improved), have been neatly painted with colors appropriate to the period of history, and have historically correct accessories, Acceptable - designs have basically been drawn according to the initial design submitted in a mostly attractive manner, they have generally been painted with historically correct colors and usually have proper accessories, Almost There - model did not fully represent the initial design, painting was not always neat, historically correct colors were not always used, and accessories were not always correct, Awful - model did not resemble initial design, painting was not neat, historically correct colors were not used, accessories were missing or historically incorrect.

TIME REQUIRED

• Planning time for two teachers 60 min., implementation time in each class 10 - 15 min., assessment - final writing, 45 min., fashions - 45 min. For the experience itself, 3 days on block schedule (we have 60 minute periods for 7^th grade); in both art and social studies.

STUDENT WORK

• Upon request

REFLECTION

• To better meet the needs of all learners, and better support attainment of the standards, outside reading on the subject could be done, a museum with historical fashions could be visited, slides of clothing of the past could be shown.